Id take $140,000 to cut all ties with the company.
GM Posts Largest-Ever U.S. Automotive Company Loss
CBS News Interactive: On The Job
DETROIT (AP) ― General Motors Corp. is reporting the largest annual loss ever for a U.S. automotive company as it offers a new round of buyouts to 74,000 U.S. hourly workers.
GM says Tuesday it lost $38.7 billion in 2007. The loss largely was due to a third-quarter charge related to unused tax credits.
GM announced the buyouts Tuesday morning as it was releasing its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings.
GM will give workers several choices. Retirement-eligible workers will get between $45,000 and $62,500 as an incentive to retire, depending on their skill level. Younger workers can get up to $140,000 if they leave and cut all ties with the company.
GM says it expects the majority of workers to leave by July 1.
Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC already have announced similar buyout programs.
The loss topped the previous record GM set in 1992, when it lost $23.4 billion. That’s according to Standard & Poor’s Compustat.
GM says its automotive business saw record revenues of $178 billion in 2007. That’s up $7 billion from a year ago thanks to growth in emerging markets and favorable exchange rates.
But GM’s North American division continued to struggle, posting a $1.5 billion loss for the year
ya but it sucks for the assembly line workers that dont have degrees and make 20+ and hour cause now they wont find a job that can pay even close 2 that.not that im trying to justify it but it does suck for them.
Or maybe we’ll realize we can stop feeling guilty about normal business transactions.
They should have realized that a dude with no skill at all making $50k is pretty amazing, and he should have saved a few dollars.
But they didn’t, and the ones who take the $140,000 will probably squander it and end up on welfare.
Cliffs: trying to help people just screws us over harder in the end, that’s why smart CEOs have huge lay-offs and don’t lose any sleep over it, because it’s the exact same result, just a few weeks sooner without the severance package.
This is old news. The american car manufacturers are all hurting & they just now are starting to build some nice cars (GM - GTO, CTS, Z06/ZR1, Malibu, upcoming Camaro/Ford - Mustang/Chrysler - RWD 300, Charger, Magnum & upcoming Challenger). If they would have started building desireable cars 15 years ago, they would not be playing catch-up with the Global manufacturers. They wasted $$ on everything but quality. They invested all of their resources into trucks & SUVs, not realizing that the bottom was going to fall out soon in that market. They should have kept investing resources into the car platforms to build the best they could.
Couple this with the Healthcare issues & union issues they have & it’s hard to believe they are even still in business today.
I mean I’d hate to say it, but unless they turn it around, the next car I buy will be an import… I don’t want a 36,000 mile warranty and then at 42,000 I have to start replacing shit that isn’t cheap (so far an ignition module and now possibly cat, which luckily is under warranty I believe).
Not to say that the global manufacturers are guranteed cars, but you can’t beat the reputation for quality and reliability, such as for Honda/Toyota.
I have to say I’ve generally been tied to imports but recently I’ve been looking at the Malibu and Sky. The aesthetic appeal of those cars makes most of the imports look like poop. Camry/Accord frankly just look boring as hell to me, and the Mazda 6 is only marginally more interesting. Big question is whether GM’s quality is actually on par over the next couple of years.
Plus the depreciation on newer american cars is pathetic. my 03 Durango SXT had a sticker of $35,500, when I tried to trade it in, mind you its 4 wheel drive and only has 61k on the odometer, body and interior are perfect, and 0 mechanical issue, three places would only give me $6000 for it on trade, so I would have to roll over about 7k onto my next car, which I refuse to do, so I am stuck with it until it is paid off, but I will not buy another american car, unless Dodge is still offering the lifetime powertrain warranty still at that time, then I may reconsider.
what reputation? they didnt make a decent car that stayed together until the 90’s… you dont say 80’s hondas or toyota in the number you see 80’s gms because all the imports rotted to dust! that reputation is self created and somehow it became accepted as gospel. it matters more how YOU take care of ur car. go buy and hyndai and you can feel all warm and fuzzy with ur warentted piece of shit.
Tommy: Let’s think about this for a sec, Ted, why would somebody put a guarantee on a box? Hmmm, very interesting.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Go on, I’m listening.
Tommy: Here’s the way I see it, Ted. Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box 'cause he wants you to fell all warm and toasty inside.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: 'Course it does. Why shouldn’t it? Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right, Ted?
[chuckles until he sees that Ted is not laughing too]
Ted Nelson, Customer: [impatiently] What’s your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the fairy isn’t a crazy glue sniffer? “Building model airplanes” says the little fairy; well, we’re not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that’s all it takes. The next thing you know, there’s money missing off the dresser, and your daughter’s knocked up. I seen it a hundred times.
Ted Nelson, Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?
Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That’s all it is, isn’t it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me.
lifetime power train? haha thats how they lure in dumbasses… engines aren;t blowing up anymore unless its caused by the owners misuse. And buying a new car is a horrible investment. what did you expect? Best cars to buy are lease cars… people tend to keep them nice because it gets really expensive to turn in a car that has a lot of things wrong with it. Let someone else pay for the off the lot losses.
a lot of times when you ask people how they like their car, they lie their fuckin head off cause they dont wanna seem like an asshole that got duped into buying a trendy piece of shit, or they really convince themselves their car is good. Magazines and media are in bed with companies so they aren’t reliable sources either… go talk to mechanics and not just one, get a broad range of guys. they will tell you what good cars are. Me and Dick starbucks know a guy that reconditions Cop cars and he said the panther platform cars are some of the best cars ever made… that probably why they’ve gone virtually unchanged since 1978!!! pretty much only power plants and sheetmetal have changed.
If I were buying a car in 1985 then they’d be having a bad reputation. But I’ll probably be in the market in 3-4 years for a new car and currently they have a good reputation… or at least better than GM/domestic. I worked at Enterprise so I drove a lot of low to midrange cars. A Chevy Impala with 35,000 miles and a Toyota Camry with 35,000 miles was like night and day.
And I didn’t mention Hyundai at all in above post. However, they’re one of the first to offer the 100,000 mi warranty, my girlfriend and her parents have Hyundais and they are staying together fine. It’s good bang for the buck.
its all in ur perspective. if you go into it thinking the camry is gonna be better, thats most likely the conclusion you will come to. Why do GM cars have a bad rep? u ask a machanic and they will most likely say that imports break just as often as american. It usually costs more to fix an import. that bad rep thing is just one of those things that starts like a high school rumor… girls gave some one a bj…by the time its gets around the school the rumor is she got gang banged by the basketball team. People also overeact 10 fold when their car breaks " oh my God my car is a piece of shit because my alternator went bad" cars break…north east and great lakes region is not nice to cars.
my mechanic has been fixing cars since 1972… import wise the only cars that he was impressed by was a few customers had volvos that were very good and another customer with a mid 90’s lexus.
The reason I say that I would go with Dodge because of the warranty, is because every other US car manufacturer, has crap warranties, and you hear about cars falling apart shortly after the warranty expires. I cant say that I am displeased with my truck, but I want to get rid of it because its the biggest gas hog i’ve ever owned. I average about 13mpg. I like Dodge products personally, and have never had any mechanical problems with mine. Im just saying that if I dont find an import that suits me, Dodge is where I will buy. And I did buy mine preowned…the sticker was just in the glovebox.
you hear stories… i dont buy them stories…who is the source? cars dont just “fall apart” unless its a datsun, lol. cars fall apart from abuse… you never see grandma’s car fallin apart. and cars get shitty gas mileage from city driving and driving with a heavy foot. but back to the falling apart thing… its assholes that drive their cars into teh ground and they break and are dumbfounded as to why they broke! take a gander at a parking lot… look at how many people have bald tires on their cars… thats will tell you how well the general public looks after their vehicals.
